It is generally desirable for chairs to be able to tilt backwards at a person's discretion. The tilting feature can be achieved using various types of mechanisms including springs, shafts, and gas cylinders; however, a less bulky and complex tilting mechanism is a cantilever. The cantilever is made of a generally rigid material that flexes when a load is applied thereto. The cantilever is attached at one end to the upper portion of the chair and at the other end to the lower portion of the chair and is sufficiently rigid to hold the upper portion of the chair in the generally upright position when the chair is empty or the person is sitting upright in the chair. However, when the person leans back on the upper portion of the chair, the cantilever flexes, thereby allowing the upper portion of the chair to tilt relative to the lower portion of the chair. Cantilevers may be used in any type of chair but are most frequently found on casual, outdoor dining chairs.
Although it is often desirable for a chair to be able to tilt, it is sometimes desirable for the tilting mechanism to be temporarily disabled. For example, when a person is eating at a table, a tilted chair can be informal, distracting, and/or otherwise undesirable. Thus, it is advantageous to have a tilt lockout on the chair so that the tilting feature can be activated and deactivated at the person's discretion. A reliable apparatus for locking out the tilting mechanism for a cantilever tilting mechanism, preventing a chair with a cantilever-type tilting mechanism from tilting rearward, is therefore disclosed.